POLISHING THE SILVER COVENANT CHAIN: A STATEMENT OF PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP TO THE WORLD WE ALL HAVE THE POWER TO STOP THE WAR The Silver Covenant Chain of Friendship is a metaphor used to describe the interdependent relationship between nations. At certain times it must be polished to remind us of our responsibilities to live in peace with one another. **** We, as women of the Haudenosaunee Mohawk Nation, wish to ask the world to help us uphold our sacred responsibilities to the next Seven Generations. We have a responsibility to remind all mankind that there is a way to bring all people together into a universal peace plan. It is made for all people - It is the Haudenosaunee Great Law of Peace. Our law is not new. It was in use for centuries before the Europeans came to colonize us. It was used as a basis for the Constitution of the United States (Con. Res. 76, 2 Dec.1987) which in turn served as a basis for the Charter of the United Nations. We and our honorable male supporters, wish to remind the world of this important fact. We ask for our law to be recognized and used in this time of crisis. We want to remind the “democratically” elected representatives that they do not have jurisdiction to go against the will of the people. George Bush and Tony Blair are just individuals. They must stop their misrepresentation. They must stop bullying their people into killing others. We are all interdependent and equal - We all have a voice. With this voice comes rights and responsibilities. Using basic principles of the Great Law of Peace, our voices can be heard once more. It is time for the PEOPLE to stand together and speak up. We must draw on the principles of Peace, Power and Righteousness. PEACE: According to our law we can recall our sons and daughters if we decide that killing others is not necessary. And so today, we ask all soldiers to be brave. Follow the will of the people. Lay down your arms. Do not follow the commands of tyrants. POWER: We have the power to stop the war. RIGHTEOUSNESS: According to our law, war must never be used for the mass-destruction of other nations. The soldiers must listen to the people. They must not take part in the war. They must pay attention. They must obey their own hearts and do what is morally right. George Bush and Tony Blair only have power if other people give it to them. We don't want young men and women to follow military orders into an abyss - an abyss of environmental destruction and death. George Bush and Tony Blair are violating the Great Law of mankind by not consulting the people. They are making decisions in private. They are considering only their own interests. They are not respecting the sovereignty of other people. They are taking unilateral action and demanding support. They are rattling their sabres without opening the door to egalitarian discussion. They are taking aggressive actions against other states when they should be sending out invitations and welcoming people to talk about matters of mutual concern. Remember, true democracy does not stem from one man alone. George Bush is only the commander in chief of the United States army. Tony Blair is only the Prime Minister. In a true democracy such a person cannot decide the agenda and lead the discussion. Among our people, a war chief cannot even take part in the discussions of the people. He can only take direction. He only has the power to carry out the will of the people. We call on the American people to reclaim democracy and overthrow tyrannical power. We call on the people of Britain to let Tony Blair know that you do not agree - Raise your voices! We have a term in our language, "te ho te ri wa kwen ten", which means "they have pushed matters to a ridiculous extreme putting everything out of balance". This is the kind of time we are living right now. To all our relations, to the natural world, to all spirits in the universe, we send out our invitation. We must polish the covenant chain together. We must remove the tarnish and all dark thoughts. We must link our hands together in friendship. We must keep balance in the world. Kahn-Tineta Horn, Haudenosaunee, grandmother, mother Kahente Horn-Miller, Haudenosaunee, mother Karonhioko'he, daughter Kokowa, daughter Grace Li Xiu Woo, sister, aunt and cousin. If you want to join hands with us, please sign and send this message to George Bush, president@whitehouse.gov; Tony Blair, uk@un.int; Sadaam Hussein; the United Nations Security Council, chinamission_un@fmprc.gov.cn, france@un.int, president@gov.ru, Temporary UN Security Council members, Pakistan@un.int, spain@un.int, contact@germany-un.org, and anyone else you would like to join our circle of peace and friendship. We would especially like to invite Sadaam Hussein to join our circle too. Please pass along his email address to us. orakwa@paulcomm.ca **************************** I hope you will take a moment and read this, it is also part of my Cree teachings. In Unity, Shirl Moccasin Makers and War Breakers A call to action by the women of the world. We have the power to stop the war! "Before the men can go to war, the women must make their moccasins." In the tradition of our ancestors, it was customary for the women to make the moccasins worn by the men who were going to war. If the women did not want war, they did not make the moccasins. Our ancestors belonged to the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. Europeans called them Iroquois. We overcame a horrible legacy of war and violence when Deganawida, the Peace Maker, gave us our Great Law of Peace. The United States Senate has acknowledged that our law served as a model for the Constitution of the United States (U.S. S. Con. Res. 76, 2 Dec. 1987). The U.S. Constitution was, in turn, a model for the Charter of the United Nations. Our law is the basis of modern international law. The Americans copied our laws and customs, but they did not understand them. Our ancestors recognized the sovereignty of all men and women by solving community conflicts through discussion in a People's Council. In our tradition, three criteria must be kept in mind through all deliberations: 1) Peace: meaning peace must be kept at all costs. 2) Righteousness: meaning decisions must be morally right taking into consideration the needs of seven generations to come. 3) Power: meaning the power of the people must be maintained including the equal sovereignty of all men and all women. Conflicts between nations were also resolved through diplomacy and consensus. War - or the use of violence - was only a last resort. Even then, the women and children of the opponents were spared. Throughout, our ancestors always respected the other nation's different customs, laws and ways of life, whether they approved of them or not. They would work out agreements on how to live side by side. Therefore we have stood by and not become involved in this current conflict. But we see now that it has gone too far. Innocent lives and mother earth is at stake. As women and caretakers of this earth, we have decided to speak up. According to the law of our ancestors, the soil of North America is vested in the women. Serious decisions about warfare had to involve the other half of the people - the women - the bearers of life, the nurturers of the earth. We are now facing an unnecessary war. We have a duty to use our power to do good. We have decided to remind all humanity of this important truth. War cannot happen without the support of women. We ask the women of the world to come forward and play their rightful role as the progenitors, the creators of all men, of all humanity, the caretakers of the earth and of all that lives upon it. As women, we know the pain and suffering of childbirth. We feel a deep loss when our children die. This understanding compels us to act to stop the destruction of lives. The children must not suffer. Not our children. Not the children of anyone we disagree with. We respect the sovereign and sacred right of each individual to live on this earth. We ask you, the women of the world, and the men who support us, to come forward and stop this madness. This decision to go to war will cause the deaths of thousands of innocent men, women and children. It is a decision that has been made primarily by men without the input of the people of the nation, without the input of the women. Most of these men have grandmothers, mothers, wives, girlfriends, sisters, aunts, daughters, nieces, granddaughters, nannies, etc. We are asking all of these women to put pressure on these men - men like President George Bush, Colin Powell, Donald Rumsfeld, Prime Minister Tony Blair, Saddam Hussein, Prime Minister Jean Chretien, Ariel Sharon, the Palestinians, the North Koreans and anyone else who is involved in causing the current threat to destroy the world. Women, bring your men to their senses. Women, remember your power. Remember your responsibility. Every person has personal power. We must all use our power to do good. We must stop the war. We must maintain the Peace. We must hold back the moccasins. Kahn-Tineta Horn, Mohawk mother & grandmother Kahente Horn-Miller, Mohawk mother Karonhioko'he, Daughter Kokowa, Daughter Grace Lix-xiu Woo, Aunt & Sister To send comments or for more information, please contact orakwa@paulcomm.ca Message relayed by: ECOTERRA - FIRST PEOPLES & NATURE FIRST ! SURVIVAL & FREEDOM for PEOPLE & NATURE 24 h EMERGENCY RESPONSE: +254-733-633-000 http://www.ecoterra.de http://www.ecoterra.net http://www.ecoterra.org.uk http://www.ecoterra.info and Hague Appeal for Peace http://www.haguepeace.org/ Please also see: The Iroquois Constitution: http://www.law.ou.edu/hist/iroquois.html Great Law of Peace: http://www.sixnations.org/Great_Law_of_Peace Haudenosaunee – People Building a Longhouse: http://www.sixnations.org Dating the Iroquois Confederacy, by Bruce E. Johansen http://www.ratical.org/many_worlds/6Nations/DatingIC.html An article on a commemoration, ten years ago. http://nativenet.uthscsa.edu/archive/nl/9206/0002.html COMBING THE SNAKES OUT OF ATOTARHO’S HAIR A Transformation from War to Peace http://www.freepeltier.org/action_transformation.htm The Second Superpower Rears its Beautiful Head http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/people/jmoore/secondsuperpower.html Photo courtesy: Indian Time Newspaper http://members.aol.com/miketben2/supp4.htm